Baden-Württemberg, also known as SouthWest Germany, is a beautiful part of Germany that offers the Swabian hills and valleys, sophisticated cities and charming villages, caves of ancient art, the Black Forest, UNESCO World Heritage sites, Lake Constance, and fine dining.
Nine restaurants in Baden-Württemberg received the green Michelin star, which was introduced for the first time in 2020, and recognizes restaurants’ focus on sustainability – environmental standards, green living and sustainable agriculture and food production. In many parts of SouthWest Germany, the growing and producing of environmentally friendly ingredients has spawned a whole culinary tourism practice of growing fresh and sustainable ingredients that chefs are keen to implement in their cooking and to dish up for their guests.
The epicenter of SouthWest Germany’s gourmet excellence is the tiny town of Baiersbronn in the Black Forest with a total of eight Michelin stars. Three world-class restaurant hotels share eight Michelin stars between them: Jörg Sackmann with one star at Schlossberg Restaurant; Claus-Peter Lumpp at the three-starred Bareiss Restaurant; and Torsten Michel at the three-starred Schwarzwaldstube Restaurant along with the Florian Stolte at the one star Köhlerstube who are back on their feet at the Traube Tonbach after the hotel suffered a devastating fire in January 2020.
Baiersbronn has an attention to detail and emphasis on good food that does not stop at the Michelin starred restaurants. Baiersbronn’s “Culinary Hiking Heaven” is a program that teaches visitors the important relationships between nature and nourishment. This program involves “wild plant hosts,” that are restaurants and inns using natural ingredients from the local forest to prepare their dishes; and “wild plant guides” who take visitors on hikes and introduce them to all the forest has to offer. The town seamlessly combines delicious, gourmet food and nature with hard work, locally sourced food, organic ingredients and local production. Their emphasis is on sustainability, conservation and maintaining green practices which is also echoed in many restaurants in the Black Forest and SouthWest Germany generally.
Two additional restaurants from SouthWest Germany made it into the two-star league: the Goldberg in Fellbach, just north of Stuttgart and the Ösch Noir in Donaueschingenin the Black Forest not too far from Freiburg, which received its second star only one year after receiving its first star last year. Two restaurants earned back their first Michelin stars: At Staufeneck Castle in Filstal in the Swabian Alb west of Stuttgart, the Fine Dining RS can look forward to the coveted star again. The Black Eagle in Vogtsburg am Kaiserstuhl near the border with France in the western part of the state also received the award back. Both had to give up their stars for the first time in many years a year earlier. In addition to the newly awarded stars, the new edition of the Michelin Guide also reports deleted stars. A total of eight previous star restaurants from the south had to give up their award this year.
Michelin Green Stars are awarded to restaurants that have a focus on sustainability and can qualify only if they have already received a Star, Bib Gourmand or Plate. The green star restaurants in Baden-Wuerttemberg number 12 all together: The hotel restaurant Bergfriedel in Bühlertal just south of Baden-Baden in the Black Forest; Erasmus in Karlsruhe; two restaurants in Hayingen, a charming area in the middle of the Swabian Alb south of Stuttgart, include the modern Restaurant 1950 and the environmentally friendly and regional restaurant Rose; restaurants Spielweg in Münstertal and derWaldfrieden in Todtnau and Sommerau in Bonndorf all in the Black Forest are worthy destinations; Treibgut in Ulm is where Einstein was born and where there is an excellent bread museum; restaurants Gasthaus Widmann’s Löwen and Ursprung are both west of Stuttgart and not far from Ulm. Mohren in Deggenhausertal close to Lake Constance and Zur Sonne in Sankt Peter close to Freiburg are additional special places worthy of reservations.
SouthWest Germany is also criss-crossed with well-signposted, well-maintained hiking and biking trails through glorious countryside. But it’s not only nature lovers, who enjoy the Great Outdoors. Foodies also have a terrific choice of themed trails that bring out their inner gourmet.
